Shinobi or Civilian, We love Just the Same
by mrskakashisensei
Summary: Kakashi comforts Sakura when her family splits up.


He found her on a bench that night, looking up at the stars.

From a connection born of years of trusting each other with their lives, Kakashi could tell something was amiss with the pink haired kunoichi.

She sat on the bench, hugging her knees to her chest, resting her head on them.

"Sakura-chan." He greeted, sending an eye-crinkle her way.

"Hi sensei." She replied, using the tone of voice she did when trying to bottle up emotions.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Don't wanna talk about it." She said.

He knew that eventually she would come clean with whatever it was weighing on her. So he pulled out his book and sat in the silence with her, waiting as long as it took.

Eventually, he saw tears running down her expressionless face. He put his book away.

"I miss my dad." She said.

What had happened to her father? He had heard rumors floating around Konoha about her parents, but Kakashi wasn't one for gossip and dismissed the rumors as quickly as he had heard them.

"That's right, you don't know." She said.

Kakashi waited.

"They split up, my parents did. I live with mom now, I haven't seen dad in over two months. I miss him. "

He looked at her.

"It was for the best, the only reason they were still together was because of me. But still, I miss him. I haven't even cried about it until now. Why am I crying now? I haven't even told anyone that I miss him except for you. "She said, still crying.

Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, silently telling her that it was all right to let it out.

"We've talked some, a few sentences here and there. I'm so angry, I don't know why, I'm so pissed off at everything and it makes no sense!" she exclaimed.

"Mom has a new boyfriend. He's a nice enough guy, but still, he'll never be my father figure; I'm not going to have this happen again. He can be my friend, but never father figure. Why am I even fucking crying? I'm a shinobi! I shouldn't cry over something as trivial as this!" she said angrily, ashamed of her tears.

"It's all right Sakura, there's no need to be ashamed of crying. No matter if you're shinobi or civilian, having your family split up hurts, and feeling like this is perfectly normal. It won't hurt so badly, in time." He said, putting his arm around her as her cries turned into sobs of repressed pain that was finally being unleashed.

She cried into his chest, as far as she was concerned he was her constant, someone to whom she could always go to with her problems without fear of being ridiculed or belittled.

Eventually her sobs quieted to nothing and she pulled away.

"Thank you." She said.

"No problem Sakura-chan." And still he didn't leave.

She felt better, still sad, but better and far less stressed. She leaned on Kakashi's shoulder and listened to the sounds of night around them.

Kakashi sat with her a long time after that, so long that some of the street lights even went out. He could hear her breathing evenly and knew she'd fallen asleep. His hand lifted to cup her tear stained face for a moment, she looked so peaceful. He gathered her in his arms and started walking slowly towards her house, foregoing his usual rooftop sprint. It was a beautiful night after all.

She unconsciously snuggled into Kakashi, the night was cold, and his body was so warm.

They reached her house and Kakashi leapt to the widow. Easily unlocking it with chakra, he held her with one hand and lifted the window with the other. He crept in with the sleeping Sakura still in his arms. He placed her in her bed, but noticed her shivering. He unzipped his flak jacket, it was an easy enough process to put it on her sleeping form and zip it up. It was a rather warm jacket. He stepped back and smirked at how big it was on her, and quickly pulled a blanket over her. The moonlight filtered through the open window and landed on Sakura's face. It gave a ghostly, almost angelic glow to her already milky-white skin.

He smiled at the thought of this young woman, so angelic looking now, demolishing the ground with a single punch, sending enemies flying in all directions. Fearsome as she was, he was relieved to see her life as a shinobi had not interfered in her ability to feel sadness, as it often did for many others. Though some laughed or scoffed at people for feeling sadness as shinobi, he was happy she was able to feel, and hoped that their job never made her become jaded like so many before her, himself included. Lying there sleeping, she was the most beautiful thing Kakashi had ever seen, and he felt privileged to have been her confidant tonight, to know she trusted him enough to show her weakness.

A trace of a smile still playing on his masked lips, Kakashi exited through the window, silent as a spectre even when closing the window.

That night Sakura dreamed of flashes of silver hair, and black and red eyes gazing at her lovingly, softly in fact, as if the owner of the eyes were afraid a mere gaze would break her. She dreamt of the smells of the forest and paper, and felt the warmth of an unknown, somehow familiar man envelope her. She slept well that night.


End file.
